Joe Biden will speak with French President Emmanuel Macron this week about canceled submarine deal
- President Joe Biden will speak with French President Emmanuel Macron this week amid a trilateral diplomatic crisis
- The crisis emerged as Australia canceled a submarine purchase from France
- A Macron spokesperson said: ‘President Biden asked to speak to the President of the Republic and there will be a telephone discussion in the next few days’
- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday: ‘I don’t regret the decision to put Australia’s national interest first’
Joe Biden will speak with his French counterpart this week regarding a diplomatic crisis triggered by Australia canceling its submarine purchase from Paris.
A spokesperson for French President Emmanuel Macron said that Biden requested to hold talks as France seeks ‘clarification’ on the canceled order.
‘President Biden asked to speak to the President of the Republic and there will be a telephone discussion in the next few days between President Macron and President Biden,’ Gabriel Attal told news channel BFM TV.
France said on Friday it was recalling its ambassadors from Washington and Australia’s capital city of Canberra over a trilateral security deal also involving Britain that ultimately sank the multi-billion dollar order for French submarines.
President Joe Biden (left) will speak with French President Emmanuel Macron (right) this week amid a trilateral diplomatic crisis surrounding Australia canceling a submarine purchase from France
The scrapping of the contract, struck in 2016, has caused fury in Paris, which claims not to have been consulted by its allies.
The Australian government, however, says it had made clear its concerns for months.
After the initial ‘shock’ of the cancelation, Attal claims that discussions need to take place over contract clauses, notably compensation for the French side.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday stood by his country’s decision on acquiring new submarines.
‘I don’t regret the decision to put Australia’s national interest first,’ Morrison said. ‘This is an issue that had been raised by me directly some months ago and we continued to talk those issues through, including by defense ministers and others.’
The failed deal has resulted in the French government cancelling events celebrating French-American relations and recalling its ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki claimed that Australia decided to abandon the 2016 deal it had struck with France for diesel-electric submarines and instead seek to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Australia will acquire at least eight nuclear submarines in the trilateral deal between Canberra, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
Source: Read Full Article